In some postage machines, such as the type 6900 postage meter manufactured by Pitney Bowes Inc. of Stamford Conn., a plastic actuator has been provided on the machine to enable an operator to select whether mail pieces are ejected automatically from the machine after postage is printed thereon (AUTO), or whether this automatic ejection is disabled (MAN).
FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate a known actuator of a plastic material. The actuator has a mounting hub 100, and a slot 101 is provided adjacent the hub to receive a control part of the postage meter, whereby rotation of the actuator causes the desired movement of the control part. The actuator also has base portion 103 with a manual knob 104 extending therefrom to permit rotation of the knob by a user. A fork shaped portion 105 is adapted to engage a fixed post in the postage meter, and this portion 105 is resiliently connected to the base portion 103 by an arcuate section 106.
As is known, plastic material creeps under stress, and can cause parts made therefrom to lose there functionality. In the arrangement of FIGS. 9 and 10, there are two positions of the actuator, i.e. manual and auto. When in the manual and auto positions, the actuator, especially the portion 106 thereof, is stressed and will lose resilience and break down. When this happens, the actuator is prevented from locking in the AUTO eject mode, causing the setting to float toward the MANUAL eject mode.